Caffeine Fix
by HouseMDfan101
Summary: It all began in the Coffee shop. All human- Bella/Alice
1. Prologue

Epilogue-

I didn't know their names- all I knew was all four of them were insanely beautiful, and that every afternoon when they came into the coffee shop- sitting in the usual comfy couches near the back of the shop- they ordered the same thing.

The tall extremely muscular guy, with curly black hair and dimples ordered Irish coffee. The insanely beautiful blonde model, who appeared to be the muscular guy's girlfriend, ordered a macchiato. The lankier guy with the bronze hair that seemed to define gravity ordered an espresso. And of course, her. The petite girl with pixie-like features and spiky dark hair that always seemed to be in a beautiful disarray, she ordered a caramel latte. I wish I knew their names. Well I knew one of their last names, Hale. The blonde one would always order, leaving the name Hale for me to call out when their beverages were ready. But now that I recognised them, I no longer called out. I brought the coffees over for them. They tipped generously, extremely so. But that's not why I did it. This is going to sound sad, but hey it's my only vice. I did it because of the smile the pixie girl gave me.

**Now the epilogue is short, but the chapters will be longer. Enjoy =]**

**-x H**


	2. Chapter 1

Caffeine fix- chapter 1

"Ew, how can you guys still drink that stuff when you, like, work in a coffee shop?"

I looked up from my magazine. Jessica was standing next to our table looking at the paper coffee cup I held, like I'd told her it was filled to the brim with bunny's blood. "Like this." I took a huge gulp, then closed my eyes and sighed. "Oh Coffee, how I wish I could make sweet, sweet love to you."

Japer snorted, looking up from his book. "I think you'd burn yourself Bells."

I held the cup close to my face, and stared intently at it. "Sorry coffee, but nobody likes getting burned. Now if you were an iced coffee, that would sure change things. But I wouldn't want you to change for me, it just wouldn't be real. Don't compromise who you are for one steamy night of passion."

I grinned back at Jess, who gave me a 'you should be locked up' look, then stormed into the store room. I looked over at Jasper, with my eyebrows raised. "What's her problem?"

Jasper shook his head slowly, "She just doesn't appreciate true love."

I shook my head too in mock disappointment, drained the rest of my coffee and threw it into the rubbish bin. "Apparently I don't either, I just threw away my only love," I pretended to wipe away a fake tear and turned to Jasper, "But at least I got it in the trashcan on the first shot."

Three hours later customers started showing up. We all knew that seven was too early to open and that people weren't going to rock up until Ten, but the boss always opened the same time every day, saying weekends were no exception. So we just usually hung around and drank coffee and read or studied until there were customers to serve. If we didn't like coffee and reading so much, this job would be majorly boring.

Although it was quiet in the morning, it got really busy in the afternoons- seeing as 'Forks Caffeine Fix' was the only coffee joint in town. I wiped down the counter while humming the tune 'Don't stop believing' to myself. Jasper appeared next to me, espresso in hand. He gave me an approving smile. "The eighties were a wonderful time in music, don't yah think. And a wonderful time in fashion also," he handed the gentleman his beverage, then stared off into the distance, "I so would have been great in the eighties..."

I snorted loudly. Jasper was so far in the closet that all he'd wear was jeans and t-shirts and any piece of clothing that screamed 'Straight'. I bet he'd love to wear pink and have bedazzled clothing. But I'd admit it in a second; he totally rocked any clothing he wore. I don't actually think it had anything to do with the clothing- it was more his glorious blonde locks, toned fit body, dazzling smile and wonderful personality. Any guy would be lucky to have him- actually I considered myself to be lucky having him as my best friend.

Jasper and I had been the best of friends since we were four. Our Dad's new each other from the Army, then reconnected when they both joined the Police force- and then by some strange cosmic force both wound up in 'Forks, Washington'.

I reached up and patted Jasper on his shoulder. "Maybe Forks High'll have an Eighties themed dance, and of course I'll be your date, but only if one of the 'cute girls' doesn't ask me out,"

I pretended to scan the coffee shop, "Can't you see them lining up to ask me out?"

Jasper grasped both sides of my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes, "Bells, they're just lining up for coffee." He tried to keep a serious face, but a grin broke out. I turned to look at the coffee machine. "Touché Coffee."

"Alright already, I'll be your lesbian lover. But no pet names and _definitely_ not kinky stuff in the bedroom, I'd like to keep my innocence intact thank you very much." I turned back towards the counter, where a beaming Angela stood. I grinned mischievously back. "Oh man, take all the fun out of life!" She shrugged, "When your Dad's a minister and your family is extremely religious, the most vanilla sex can seem raunchy."

"That's," I leant over the counter and kissed her on the cheek, "why I keep you around babe, in comparison to you- I seem so much more wild. Oh yeah and cause I love you."

Angela had been my best friend almost as long as Jasper. Seeing as I was home schooled I didn't socialize too much and that meant my friends list consisted of Jasper, Angela, her boyfriend Eric and Mike. "Awwww, that's sweet Bellsie! And I keep you around..." She leant forward and tapped me on the nose, "For comic relief."

I stuck my bottom lip out and huffed loudly, "And here I thought it was my dazzling smile and my winning personality."

Angela gestured animatedly at me. "And that's why you'll totally fit in at our high school! Come on Bella, stop home schooling and join Jasper and I at Forks High, where we'll be able to have lunch together _every_ day. Oh yeah and you'll learn crap too." Jasper appeared behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders. "But then she can't be that crazy hermit chick that yells at everyone in French and reads books from before her parents were even born."

Angela crinkled her nose thoughtfully. "Oh yeah, I forgot how you choose your own subjects. How very useful learning French is."

I raised a finger on my hand, "First of all I'm not a hermit, I do leave the house. Unless this is where I live," I looked around the coffee shop, "If that's the case, I have a serious addiction to coffee and there are lots of unwelcomed strangers, think I should call the cops?"

A guy behind Angela cleared this throat, then checked his watch tapping his foot in an impatient manor. Angela glanced behind her shoulder. "I think I'd better order something quickly, or the cops _will_ be showing up- to arrest the guy behind me, cause he looks close to killing me, you, Jasper and then himself." That's Angela for you, so pure and always seeing the good sides of people. Pfffft if she truly was, I don't think our friendship would have lasted past the one week mark.

"Ok, so I'm guessing- wait wait," I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers to my forehead, "Large half-caff vanilla latte extra foam."

"You know me well, too well actually. I guess you've been reading my blog." Angela pulled out a crinkled note, "Not even if you paid me." I snatched the money and deposited it into the till. Jasper let out a huge sigh behind me. "That's what she said in the 8th grade when I asked her to come see my play."

Angela shook her head in mock disappointment, "Honestly Bella, you were_ lucky_ that you missed that, I'd never seen 'Macbeth' performed any worse than that night. I still have nightmares about it." She shuddered, before grabbing her latte off of me and taking a huge gulp. "Ahhhhhh, that burn feels so wrong its right."

"Yeah, I've always wanted a tongue transplant. But hey I'll visit you in hospital, bring you lots and lots of iced drinks. Next please. Ange move it!" I shooed Angela out of the way, so I could serve the impatient customer, who let out an angry 'finally!" under his breath. Apparently, someone what's spit in their coffee today! And if I wasn't such a kind hearted being I would be happy to oblige. Actually if I didn't want to lose my job is more like it.

At about three o'clock, when I was cleaning the coffee table and fluffing the pillows in the corner part of the shop, they arrived. The muscular guy and the model-like blonde chick walked in holding hands, and the bronze haired guy and pixie-girl followed, laughing bell-like laughs sounding so carefree and, well, happy.

I picked up the magazines spread out of the table, and piled them neatly. I looked up as the four of them walked over to the usual spot, which happened to be exactly where I was cleaning. "Sorry guys, I'll get out of your way in a jiffy."

Bronze-hair smiled politely, "That's alright Hun, take your time. We'll just go order." He went to go walk over to the counter with pixie as muscles and model sat down on the loveseat; I straightened up, wiping my hand on my little black apron. "Um, I could just grab your order off you guys now. From my memory that's: Irish coffee, macchiato, espresso and a caramel latte, right?"

Bronze-hair looked impressed, "Wow, ok you're either a mind reader or we order the same things over and over too many times. But yeah thanks that would be great, and the name's under-"

"Hale?" I interrupted, smiling warmly so not to seem like a jackass. Muscles laughed a boisterous laugh that made me jump, as he rested his huge arm on the back of the couch. Pixie plopped herself down onto the armchair, grinning at me. "Ok then smartypants, we'll put the name under Alice. My name's so lovely that it should be shared with the world." She sighed turning towards the others, "Any objections? Like, should I have gone with 'Bandon' or How about the full 'Alice Brandon'? Come on guys, voice your opinions."

Model cleared her throat, "Well I think maybe if you're doing the whole name thing..."

'Alice', as I'd just so clearly found out her name, glared at Model pointing at her threateningly. "Don't you dare, Rosalie Hale!"

'Rosalie' turned to me smiling innocently, "We'll put it under 'Mary Alice Brandon' thank you," She turned and smiled smugly at Alice, who had slapped her hand to her forehead, cringing like someone had, well slapped her on the forehead. I didn't know what to do, so I just went ahead and giggled a little. When did all of sudden started giggling?

Alice turned to me, a serious look on her face, "Don't put it as Mary Alice Brandon, oh and if you don't mind, try and slip some rat poison into her Macchiato."

I shook my head in fake disappointment, "Sorry, I just used up the rest of the rat poison on the rude customer literally five minutes ago, maybe next time." They all laughed at my joke, giving me a major ego boost. "And by the way, I think that's a cute name," I gave her a wink before turning to the others, "I'll be right back with your beverages."

I walked off towards the counter, forcing myself not to look back to see her reaction.


	3. Chapter 2

Caffeine fix- ch 2

At quarter past four, when our shift finished, Jasper drove me home in his massive black pick-up. I didn't even have time to fasten my seatbelt before Jasper started in on me. "Sooooo Bella, I don't think in all the time I've know you, which has been a while I might, I've ever hear you giggle. Seriously girl, you sounded like...well like an 'actual' girl!"

He smirked at me, which I responded in the mature way- punching his arm and poking my tongue out. "Hey, I didn't know- I felt like- shut up!"

I crossed my arms and sunk down in the passenger seat, while Jasper continued to laugh at me. "WOW, Isabella Marie Swan rendered speechless...I don't think I've ever witnessed _that_ either!"

Jasper seemed to be enjoying this _way_ too much. I continued to sulk, pouting as I tried to think of some witty come back- I failed to, so I just changed the subject.

"Do you know them? We'd served them for ages and I'd only just found out the girls names are Alice and Rosalie." I tried to seem nonchalant about the subject, but curiosity coated my tone. Jasper nodded, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. "Yeah they go to Forks High, The big guy's Emmet his in my Gym class and the other guy's Edward, he's in my." He cleared his throat, then glanced at the rear-view mirror, a light blush appearing on his cheeks, "my History and Sociology class". I straightened up quickly in the seat, pointing at him excitedly. "Oh my god, you like him. You like McSexhair and his 'So-perfect-skin-i-want-to-touch-it' thing goin' on.

Jasper blushed a darker shade of red, averting his gaze, "McSexhair? What is this, an episode of Grey's Anatomy?"

I shook my head, laughing loudly, "Hey now, don't try and change the subject Whitlock. Literally seconds ago you're teasing me about 'giggling', so I think," I stretched crossing my feet on the dashboard, "I'm going to stretch this out- nice-and-longgggggggg!"

We were in my living room, watching SpongeBob and eating popcorn. It was so nice having a gay best friend to cuddle on the couch with, and I'm guessing Jasper had the same thought. It was so nice to have physical contact without worrying about it leading anywhere. And even though I knew I was gay from the age of twelve, I liked having a guy to cuddle with. Jasper and I were extremely close; we had our first kiss, lost or virginities and come out together- the last two on the same night I might add- it _was_ rather funny. At first we thought that it might have screwed up our friendship, but really it actually made it stronger. We told each other _**everything**_, seriously- sometimes we would wonder if we really should tell each other the things we did, but we never judged each other so it was all good.

I raised my head off of Jasper's shoulder, "Hey, before you said that you had subjects with Emmett and Edward, but you didn't mention Rosalie or Alice. What classes do you have with them?" I asked, not even bothering to hide my curiosity. Jasper tore his eyes away from the television, "I have English lit and Bio with Rosalie and um Alice hasn't started at Forks yet, she's just moved back."

I rested my head back on his shoulder, I wasn't that much of a gossip, I didn't like talking about people behind their backs, having bad experience with the whole thing myself- stupid Lauren 'I'm such a raging bitch' Malloney.

We sat in silence for a little while before I decided to voice my decision. "Hey Jazz,"

Jasper, without taking his eyes of the television murmured a 'hmmm?" encouraging me on. "I think I might enrol in Forks high. I think I need to socialize more and you know, make Angela shut up about the whole subject."

Jasper gave my shoulder a small squeeze, "I think that's a great idea."

He flashed me one of his dazzling smiles, which I returned with my own mischievous grin. "Plus, someone has to get you and Edward together."

It was just another usual Sunday at work. Nothing much interesting had happened, well apart from spilling frappe all over the front of my shirt and having to change out of my white long-sleeve, into one of my spare singlets. I didn't usually like to wear such little clothing; I was more of a long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans kind of girl. And by the looks I got from some of the male customers, the singlet showed off my not-really-been-seen-cleavage.

But then at 1:00, the door opened and when I looked up from serving an old lady, I noticed two very good looking people enter the shop. Alice and Edward had rocked up early and without the other two. Jasper walked up to the counter next to me, I turned to him and grinned, "I think you should go over there and ask if they'd like their usual Espresso and Caramel latte, or if they'd like to spice things up a bit and change the order."

Jasper looked over and watched as Alice and Edward sat down at a table near the window instead of their usual spot. I guess they were up for change. Jasper rubbed his hands together, then took a deep breath and nodded. He gave me a quick smile, then made his way over to their table. I turned to the next customer and took her order, but watched Jasper out of the corner of my eye.

Jasper was sometimes hard to read. He came across all cool and collected, but I could always tell when he was nervous. It was just subtle little things, like a cough and a twitch of the hands that not many people noticed, but I did.

He stood with his back to me and I couldn't really tell, over the hum of conversation in the shop, what he was saying, but at one moment Edward threw his head back and laughed. I took the customer's order then went to make the latte. I made the drink and gave it to the lady, before spinning around and almost slamming into Jasper. He was grinning ear to ear. "That'll be a mocha and a chai latte. Someone actually listened to you Bells. I'm amazed!"

I did a fist pump. "Yes! Today it's getting people to change their drink orders, tomorrow it's convincing them to commit mass murder." At that moment Jessica walked past us, giving us the usual judging look, I leant closer to Jasper whispering, "And she's first to go."

"Oh I don't think you're _that_ convincing."

We both turned to the petite brunette standing in front of the counter; she had an amused look on her face. I shrugged, "Excuse me, but who was it that got you to order different coffee?"

I pretended to think for a moment, stroking my chin with my fingers. Alice rolled he eyes, shaking her head slowly. "Yeah yeah, sure okay you're very convincing." She turned to Jasper, "Hey think you could take over for a while? I want to steal Bella away for a sec."

Jasper looked almost as stunned as I did, almost. We looked at each other for a couple of seconds before he cleared his throat and smiled widely. "Yeah sure, go ahead and, um, steal her away."

I nodded, Undoing my apron and stuffing it under the counter. "Yeah, uh, it was about time for my break. I'll just be a second, gotta grab a latte." Alice smiled, pointing over to the armchairs in the corner, "I'll just be right over there."

I waited till she was out of earshot, then I spun around and stared at Jasper, my eyebrows raised higher than I thought possible. He looked like he was trying hard not to laugh, which in turn made him look constipated. "Yeah so um...I'm just going to, go talk-can I grab this?" I took the latte out of his hand, the one that he'd made for the customer, and walked over to where Alice was sitting, Jasper yelling a "Hey, now I have to make another- you suck!"

Alice smiled at me as I plopped down on the armchair next to hers. Wondering what she wanted. Did I make that much of an impression on her that she just wanted me to jump me in the middle of the coffee shop? Ok I was getting way ahead of myself, I didn't even know if she was gay let alone if she was attracted to me. So I went ahead and took a sip then asked, "Ok, so what's up?"

She looked over her shoulder quickly, then looked back and leaned close to me smiling wickedly. "Ok, so what are we going to do about my best friend and your best friend?"

"Huh?" the genius that I am asked. I shook my head, clearing out the cobwebs I had obviously gathered there from lack of use. "Oh yeah, right, Jasper and McSe-Edward."

Alice tilted her head to the side. "Wait Mc what? What were you going to call him?" She looked highly amused. I shrugged looking anywhere but at her. "Um, McSexhair."

I blushed a deep shade of red. She laughed and clapped her hands together. "HAHA, oh I like that, I think I'm going to use that from now on, if you don't mind."

I took a long sip of my latte, before swallowing and quickly saying, "Yeah, yeah sure." I smiled sweetly, turning my cup round and round in my hands, a little disappointed about the reason she wanted to talk to me. She rubbed her hands together. "Ok, so as the best friends I think it's our duty to get them together, now we should have a strategy meeting just the two of us to work out a game plan and how we're going to activate it." I perked up at the thought of just the two of us, somewhere far away from onlookers. Yep that's me, ever so hopeful that the beautiful girl in the little yellow sundress wanted to be with me. I leant forward, leaning my elbow on my knees and resting my chin on my palm, accidently showcasing my cleavage a tad. And, it might have been my imagination, but I was pretty sure her eyes flickered down to my chest then back to my face, biting her lip lightly. I smiled, staying in the same position, maybe even leaning forward a little more. She grinned, still biting her lip.

"So, where do you want to meet up for the 'strategy meeting'?" I asked, "I'm home schooled so I can pretty much just stand up in the middle of my lesson and say 'screw it' and go do something else if I wanted. And I heard something about you not starting at Forks high yet."

Alice's smile faltered. "What else have you heard about me." Her voice sounded different. Annoyed? Angry? Scared?

I frowned lightly, wondering what I'd just done to cause this response out of her. "Nothing really, I just recently found out your name actually, so you're pretty much an enigma to me."

"Good." She seemed to perk up a bit, but her smile was still slightly hesitant. "So, yes I haven't started at the school yet, I was there but I left for a year," she paused and blinked slowly, "My parents sent me to boarding school in Vermont. But I'm back so I'll be starting next semester. So if you want to catch up tomorrow to strategise, I know this great little coffee shop with great service and the best caramel lattes you'll ever have."

"Sounds like a plan. But if I want to stay alive long enough to meet up tomorrow, I'd better get back to work. Jasper looks a little swamped." I stood up; pulling my note pad and pen out of my pocket I scribbled down my number and handed it to her. "Just call when you want to meet up."

She smiled even wider then I thought possible as she took the paper from me. And for the rest of the shift, I couldn't seem to keep the same sized smile off of my face either.


	4. Chapter 3

Caffeine Fix- ch 3

A big thank you to everybody who reviewed and, hell to anyone who took the time to read my story. You are my biggest inspiration. Cheers x

I always liked Monday mornings. I know that's a strange thing for a teenager. Monday's are the end of the weekend and the start of the school week, but seeing as I was homeschooled I guess it wasn't so daunting to me. Also on Monday mornings I had a 'family' breakfast, before I began my studies, Charlie left for work and Renee left to run errands.

I was happily typing away on my laptop, enjoying wireless internet as I sat at the table waiting for my 'super duper Monday morning waffles' that Renee made, well, every Monday morning, when I felt my phone vibrate in my sweatpants pocket. I pulled it out and flipped it open, bringing it to my ear I answered, still in my gravely morning voice.

"Hello?"

"_Hello Bella? It's Alice, I'm sorry did I wake you?" _Alice's perfect voice made my morning voice sound like somebody throwing gravel into a blender. I straightened up in the chair and cleared my voice, trying to make it sound less like 'I just rolled out of bed twenty seconds ago' when it was like twenty minutes ago.

"No, no I've been up for a while. How are you?" Clearing my throat hadn't done much to change the sound of my voice, but it no longer sounded like I was coming down with a cold, nope it just sounded like a lazy person who sleeps late into the day, well that's if you considered 8:37am late.

"_I'm spectacular, yourself?"_ Alright, nobody should sound _that_ good in the morning, let alone 'spectacular', I guess she acted like a pixie as well as looking like one.

"Can't complain. So, do you call everyone this early in the morning or am I special?" yep that's me. Charming girls I met at work over the phone. Her laughter rang pleasantly through the speaker making my stomach all warm and tingly.

"_Yes, you're extremely 'special'. Now that we're finished stroking your ego, let's plan what time we're meeting up to commence 'operation best-friend-hook-up'."_

I shifted the phone to my other ear, shaking my head grinning.

"Nice name, how long did it take you to come up with that?"

Curiosity finally made Charlie look up from his newspaper and give me a questioning look.

"_Why thank you, actually it was my second choice, I don't think 'operation homo-hook up' was the smartest name, so I settled for second best."_

I think if I'd been drinking something, I would have sprayed it out all over Charlie and my computer. So I just went ahead and snorted loudly, making Renee jump a metre in the air.

"Yeah, um, I think second best it the right choice. Said by the wrong person, it could sound rather homophobic."

At that point both Charlie and Renee were giving me looks along the lines of 'Who are you talking to? And what the hell are you talking about?

"_Yeah, well that's only when straight people say it. So getting back on topic, you free to meet up, say, 10ish at the coffee shop? That is if you don't mind hanging out where you work_."

I shut my laptop and stood up, "Yeah sure, the coffee enthusiast I am I don't mind at all. Cya then."

"_Bye Bella."_ And with that she hung up, leaving me to repeat over and over in my mind 'only when _straight_ _people say it'_ as I ran up stairs to change out of my PJ's.

At ten o'clock exact, I entered the coffee shop. It was usually empty this time on a weekday, and today was no exception. I scanned the shop, my eyes snapping to Alice sitting in the same armchair as yesterday, a grin plastered on her face and coffee in hand.

I shoved my hands into my jean pockets, and made my way over towards her.

"Hello Bella." She greeted me as I sat down on the armchair beside her.

"Hey Alice, how long you been waiting?" I asked, fluffing the cushion into a more comfortable shape before relaxing into it. She shrugged taking a sip of her beverage.

"Not long, five minutes tops. So you ready to start planning?" Excitement coated her voice, and she practically started bouncing in the chair. Man, she really was an excitable little thing.

I rubbed my hands together, "Indeed, let's talk strategies."

We sat talking and planning in the coffee shop until 2:30. I'd never, apart from Jasper and Angela, talked to someone for that long. Alice was hilarious. She had a great sense of humour, a bubbly personality and was extremely intelligent. I could quite literally talk with her for hours.

We were in the middle of discussing what subjects we were going to take at school, when her cellphone started ringing. She stood up, smiling apologetically, "Sorry, I gotta take this."

I watched as she walked off outside to take the call, picking up a magazine and flipping through it while I waited for her to get back. It didn't even take her a minute, before she returned.

"Bella, sorry I gotta take off. This was fun, I think we definitely got somewhere with 'operation best-friend-hook-up'."

I stood up, sticking my hands in my pockets. "Yeah, definitely. We should, uh, do it again sometime."

She nodded, "Absolutely, I have your number, so expect a call from me soon."

She leant forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek, "Cya Bella."

She gave me a quick wave, which I returned, then left. As the door swung shut I quietly muttered, "Bye Alice."

"So, you got a girl-boner for this Alice chick?"

I stopped buttering my toast, and turned my head to the left as Angela came and sat on the kitchen counter next to me. "Angela, I'm amazed that people still let you talk." I shook my head, and returned to buttering my toast, chuckling at the word boner. What? I'm mentally eight and three quarters.

"Doesn't mean it's not true. And, hey, I'm a very knowledgeable person with lots of insight into the human psyche thank you very much."

I snorted, "More like 'Psycho'."

She reached over and slapped my shoulder, "It's sanely challenged! Politically incorrect is your middle name Swan." She crossed her arms, trying to look serious.

I took a bite of my toast, "Huh, and here I thought it was Marie." I said through a mouthful of toast.

She looked up at the roof and stroked her chin thoughtfully, "I guess that's why you never received any of the letters I sent you last summer. Hmmm, I wonder if 'Isabella politically incorrect Swan' wondered why an Angela Weber kept sending her letters with homo-erotic subtext."

"Yeah, her parents must hate the gay peoples or something if they'd willingly name their daughter 'Isabella politically incorrect'."

I opened the fridge in search of grape juice, and when I found none I looked up over the door. "Hey Ange, why haven't you got any Juice? You know I get grumpy if I don't have my juice."

She shrugged, "I dunno, wait," she shook her head, "we got off topic; we were talking about your thing for the Brandon chick. So get back onto the original topic please."

I closed the fridge and leant against it. "Yeah, so I like her."

Angela opened her mouth to say something, but I quickly interrupted her, "And yeeeeeas I mean like-like, like I seriously like-like her. Am I saying like to many times?" I scratched the side of my head. She nodded, "Like, yes."

"Like, shut up, before I like smack you, like." I shook my fist at her.

"You know who we sound like?" we stared at each other in silence for a couple of seconds, before both saying at the same time,

"**Like Jessica!** **LIKE!**"

We burst into a fit of giggles, which was really quite strange for us. After a little while, Angela wiped away a tear then cleared her throat. "So, tell me more about 'operation best-friend-hook-up', love the name by the way."

"Yeah same, Alice came up with it, she's quite...eccentric. And the weird thing is, I like that's she, well, weird." I fiddled with the butterknife. Angela shook her head slowly, "How is it that I just changed the subject and then bam straight away you change it back to Alice Brandon, man you must really really have a girl-boner for this chick."

I narrowed my eyes playfully at her, gesturing with the knife. "Hey now, who's holding a weapon in their hand at this exact moment? And yes, I really really like her. By the way, whats up with you and the word 'girl-boner'?"

She shrugged, "It's a hilarious word, and fits this conversation so well. ANYWAY, changing the subject for reals, tell me about this super secret operation."

I was sprawled out of the couch watching my DVD of House and picking at the stir-fry Renee had made for dinner, when the doorbell rang.

"Bella dear, can you get that?" Renee's called out from upstairs. I huffed, placing my dinner on the coffee table, and made my way over to answer the door. I opened the door and came face to face with one Jasper Whitlock Jr. And he did not look happy.

"Dare I ask?" I knew that look, the look he just gave me. The 'I'm so pissed but can't seem to hide that my mood gets better when I see Bella' look.

"Let me in Woman." I moved out of the way, closing the door behind him.

"Woman? Man, what the hell happened?" I asked following him into the kitchen. Renee came trotting down the stairs, smiling warmly when she noticed Jasper. "Hello Jasper dear."

She gave him a wave, which he returned with one of his signature dazzling smiles.

"Hey Ma, something smells mighty nice. You spoiling them again with your cooking?"

Jasper always knew how to charm Renee. She laughed, and made her way over to the stove.

"If you're hungry there's some leftovers."

He nodded, saying a 'yes ma'am' and sat himself down at the table, but not before taking off his jacket like the respectful southern gentleman he was raised to be. I sat down on the chair opposite him, placing my elbows on the table then resting my chin on my hands.

"Ok spill. What's got you all hot and bothered?"

He sighed, running his hand through his hair, looking tired and annoyed. "It was lunch time, so I was making my way to the cafeteria and I heard this little...punk calling another guy a stupid 'f-ing faggot' and started pushing the poor kid around, so I punched the guy in the stomach."

He cracked his knuckles menacing. I nodded, not being able to contain a look of disgust appear on my face at the thought of the stupid homophobic jerk. Jasper was a kind gentle soul, but there was also a dark side to him, and he could look after himself that's for sure.

"But, at that _exact_ moment the vice principal walks by. Guess who got suspended for three days for fighting." He pointed at himself with his thumbs.

"Let me guess, the guy said that you just out of the blue attacked him? And you couldn't exactly say, 'hey, I only punched him because he was calling a guy a faggot and because I'm gay I took extreme offense at it'."

Renee, being the only other person apart from me that Jasper told about his sexuality, huffed loudly while placing the stir-fry in front of Jasper.

"That's horrible."

Jasper shook his head, "That's not all, but Dad is furious that I got suspended. He's all like 'Son, how dare you dishonour your family like this, what are you some common criminal?' And I couldn't exactly tell _him_ why I did it, you know him."

Jasper's Father was the main reason he was still so far in the closet, that he spent most his time in Narnia. I was one to talk, hell I even owned a time share over there.

He dug into the stir-fry, his mood seeming to lighten as he enjoyed Renee's cooking. I clapped my hands together with a 'snap', getting his attention once more.

"So, what's on the agenda for our three day suspension?"


	5. Chapter 4

Caffeine Fix- chapter 4

We decide to spend day one of Jasper's suspension at Port Angeles. While we were there we hit any and every music store and book shop before having lunch at a cafe.

I fiddled with my fork as I watched Jasper finish his pasta. He licked the sauce off his lips and gave me a look, "Whatcha staring at missy?"

I shrugged, still fiddling with my fork. "I just realized that Alice is going to be very cross with you when she hears that you got suspended for three days."

His brow crinkled in confusion, "Why would Alice be cross?"

I shrugged again, "Just a feeling."

He narrowed his eyes playfully at me, "You're being very cryptic today Swan."

I pulled out my wallet, and counted out the right amount of notes. "Yeah, I'm an extremely cryptic kinda gal. Now let's get a move on, I wanna buy a new pair of sneakers."

After finding the right sneakers, buying them then helping Jasper find a nice pair of dress shoes, we headed off back towards Forks. Five minutes into the drive, Jasper reached over and turned down the radio. I tilted my head to the side as I watched him drive. "What's up Jasper? Don't like my taste in music anymore?" I joked, flipping through his CD collection.

"You ever wonder what Charlie would do if he found out you were gay?" He asked, no hint of humour in his voice. I was quiet for a couple of seconds.

"I don't know." I answered honestly, because I really didn't know.

Jasper's posture seemed to stiffen. "My Father would probably kick me out. Definitely disown me. Maybe even smack me around a bit."

I leant over and rested my hand on his leg trying to comfort him. He took a hand off the steering wheel and covered mine, squeezing it lightly. We sat in silence for a little while, before I piped up,

"You know if he kicks you out, you can come live with me." I grinned, which he returned.

"And if Charlie finds out your gay and you get kicked out...we'll get a place together, in the city. And we can be each other's family." He nodded enthusiastically, taking his eyes off the road to look at me intently, trying to get his point across.

"Jasper," I shook my head slowly, "we're already family."

On day two of Jasper's suspension, we decided to stay closer to home. So, being the awesome and wild teenagers we are, we went grocery shopping.

"What cereal you want?" Jasper asked, bringing the cart to a stop and staring at all the different brands. I looked over the list, checking to see if Renee had written specific type.

"Ummm, all it says is 'cereal' so I'm guessing...Actually I don't feel like cereal, let's just get bagels."

So we made our way over to the bagels and loaded up on them. Jasper muttering about my addiction to anything blueberry flavoured. I truly loved those tasty little blue bastards.

We were in the frozen food section when we bumped into Alice and what appeared to be her mother.

"Bella, Jasper. Hey!"

Alice bounded over to me and Jasper, looking especially adorable in a plaid miniskirt and white button up shirt. She turned to her mother, who looked a lot like her apart from having longer hair and blue eyes instead of green, and introduced us.

"Mum, this is Bella and Jasper. Guys this is my Mum."

"Hello dears, it's lovely to meet you." She was polite, but seemed to be looking me over like she was inspecting me. It was washing day today, so I was wearing an old pair of Jeans and my Nirvana band tee over a long-sleeved shirt. So I wasn't so much 'dressed to impress' but I liked to think I pulled the look off.

Alice turned to her Mother, "Hey Mum, I'll meet up with you at the register."

She nodded and made her way over to pay for her groceries. Jasper said something about shampoo and rushed off leaving me and Alice alone.

'So...how are you?" I asked tucking a stray bit of hair behind my ear.

"I'm good. Hey what's Jasper doing here?"

"Apart from shopping? Yeah, he kind of got suspended."

She looked really surprised. "Really? What did he do?"

I couldn't help but scowl at the thought of the stupid homophobic jerk that got my best friend suspended because he was being much a closed-minded bigot.

"He punched a guy for calling someone a faggot. And he couldn't really tell the principal or his parents the real reason why he punched the guy, so now he's suspended for three days and that guy is getting away with being a stupid homophobic dick-wad."

I was practically growling. She looked quite angry herself.

"God, some people are so closed-minded. But that was great of Jasper to stand up for that kid, even though he got in trouble for it. Oh, that sure does put a dint into 'operation best-friend-hook-up'."

I shrugged, "Yeah, but I'm pretty sure our strategy is foolproof enough,"

I paused for a second, "But I'm pretty sure we should have another strategy meeting. You free later on today?" I asked hopefully.

"Indeed I am. Do you mind if it's at your house instead of mine? It's a tad chaotic over there."

I agreed, then wrote down my address after working out what time she wanted to come over. Jasper came back in time to say bye to Alice, before she skipped off to meet her Mother. Jasper shook his head as we watched her and her mother exit the shop.

"She is rather adorable, don't ya think."

I sighed, "Yeah, cute as a button." I turned and frowned at Jasper's empty hands.

"Hey, where's my shampoo?"

After Jasper and I finished the shopping, dropped by work to get next week's schedule and then dropped by his house to have morning tea with his Mother- seeing as his Father was working a double shift with Charlie- then went back to my place to unpack the shopping and wait for Alice. Jasper had insisted we watch a movie. So we watched one of our favourite movies, Girl interrupted.

It spoke to me on so many levels. One being I'm pretty much insane, and two...ok it only really reached me on one level.

We were half way through the movie when the doorbell rang. I jumped off the couch and literally ran to answer the door. Every time I see her, she looked more beautiful than the last time.

"Hey," Was my genius greeting.

"Hey Bella."

"Come on in." I stepped backwards opening the door wider and gesturing inside. She stepped in and I closed the door behind her. She followed me into the living room, greeting Jasper when she noticed he was here.

We all squished onto the one couch, with me in the middle.

"So, what are we watching?" Alice asked as Jasper pressed play on the remote.

"Girl interrupted. It's one of our favourites, I know it has Angelina Jol- is there something wrong?"

Alice was staring at the television, and for the first time since meeting her, didn't have a smile on her face. Her expression was rather blank. She turned to me and smiled a rather forced smile before nodding.

So we watched the rest of the movie in silence. And not the usual 'we're watching a good movie so everybody be quiet' kind of silence, but that uncomfortable kind of silence when someone says something awkward and you don't know what to say back.

Once the movie was over, and Jasper had left, Alice seemed to return to normal and we started chatting.

"So I was thinking, why don't we have a small get together? Charlie's working this weekend and Renee's going to her college roommate's wedding up in Vancouver, so we'll have the place to ourselves. We could invite Jasper and Edward- so that'll help with 'operation-best-friend-hook-up' and you can get to meet the few other people I actually know. And I'm sure Jasper'll invite people from school. So, whatcha think?"

She seemed to contemplate it for a couple of seconds before nodding enthusiastically, but pausing mid nod and looking hesitant. "Um do you mind if you tell my parents I'm just having a sleepover at your place this weekend, they're a bit strict and all they think teenagers do at parties are drink and have sex."

"Yeah sure, and tell 'em about my Dad being the Chief of Police. That'll sure put their minds at ease."

Alice laughed, shifting on the couch. "Yeah, they'll think you're a goodie-goodie."

I stifled a snort, "Yeah I think I made a great impression on your Mum today. She seemed to love me."

Alice just shrugged, "She's just worried about me. And sometimes my parents' judge books by their covers. But I'm sure when she actually has a conversation with you, you'll charm her no problem."

She grinned cheekily; I laughed scratching the side of my head. "Yeah she'll either think I'm charming, or she'll think I should be committed."

And once again I felt like I'd said something wrong. She got a serious look on her face, then placed a hand on my upper arm. "I'm sure she'll adore you. You've got this way about you that, it's hard not to like you."

I was slightly shocked by how serious she seemed, like she was comforting me. It was nice, but unnecessary. I wasn't even upset. It was kind of weird, but hey who am I to accuse anyone of being weird.

"Thanks Alice."

It was quiet for a couple of seconds, than she withdrew her hand, looking excited once again. "So, let's plan this party."

On the final day of Jasper's suspension, Angela decided that she needed a day off as well, so we all hung out at my place. I know, we're very good role models.

"Bella? Bella? Hellooooooooooooo, earth to Swan, can you hear me." Angela snapped her fingers in front of my face, getting my attention and brining me back down to earth.

"Huh?"

We were hanging out, watching TV and chatting. But I kept on thinking about ringing Alice and inviting her over. But I didn't want to see too eager, seeing as I'd been hanging out with her for the last couple of days. So I'd been drifting off, thinking about her. Yeah I know, obsessed much.

Jasper and Angela were both watching me.

"Dude you keep zoning out, what's up?"

I shifted on the couch, pulling the cushion out from under me and hugging it.

"No-thing. Just trying to escape to somewhere else," I pursed my lips, "You talk too much Angela and it's disturbing me."

Jasper made a 'Pfffft' noise and gave me an amused look. I stared back at him.

"What?"

"You should call her, tell her to get her butt over here and hang out with us. 'Cause sorry to say Swan, you're kind of boring when you're busy daydreaming about her."

"Hey," I threw the cushion at Jasper, "I'm an extremely interesting person. And noooo I'm not 'daydreaming' so to speak. I'm just- don't you think it's a little excessive hanging out with her this many times in the same week?"

Jasper shrugged, "You'd be hanging out with her everyday if you went to the same school, and well actually you _will _be hanging out with her every day when you go to the same school. So I guess if you want to you should invite her over."

Angela nodded, "Yeah and I want to ask her what it was like the past year in California, imagine being in L.A, god that must have been great. All the different cultures instead of the same boring 'Meat and Potatoes' culture we're stuck with."

Jasper tilted his head to the side, "California?"

Angela nodded, "Yeah she went to stay with her Aunt or something."

Jasper looked confused for a second, "I heard she went to, uh, Utah to visit her sister or something-a-rather." He turned to me, "Did she mention anything?"

I paused, trying to remember, "Yeah, she said that she got sent to boarding school in Vermont for the year. Maybe you guys just heard rumours..." I trailed off, trying to remember if she'd specified any details about the school or why she only went for a year. She had seemed intentionally vague about it.

"Yeah probably, knowing gossips like Jessica, if it's not that interesting they just make shit up to make it all interesting and- God that chick pisses me off. Let's head down to the coffee and piss _her _off by being especially weird. Bella," she turned to me, "Can you do your whole 'talking erotically to inanimate objects' thing you do so well?"

I stood up quickly, than saluted her. "Yes Ma'am."

_**Thank you guys for the comments, they're great for my ego! and cheers to a certain person who pointed out a mistake i made, i'm glad they did before it got anymore embarassing- **_

_**thank you x **_


	6. Chapter 5

Caffeine Fix- chapter 5

"_I'm not- I'm not sane."_

"_Neither am I."_

_And that's when I leant in and kissed her._

The rest of the week passed, with me actually studying. And before I knew it, it was Saturday.

The doorbell rang at 7:15am, waking me up and really pissing me off. I rolled out of bed, and stormed down stairs to most likely punch whoever had woken me up. I opened the door, still in my half asleep stupor, and came face to face with-

"Alice?" I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and that's when I realised she wasn't alone.

"Hello dear." Alice's Mother gave me a strange look, as she should seeing as I'd answered the door in and oversized shirt and my underwear. Alice was standing next to her mum, bag over her shoulder and sleeping bag under her arm.

I looked down at my sleeping attire, then back at Alice. It seemed to go quiet for a very very long time. I cleared my throat and said the first thing that came into my head.

"Welcome to my Pyjama party."

After Alice's Mother left, we put all her stuff into my room and I put on pants, we went down into the kitchen.

I shook my head as I poured the coffee into Alice's mug.

"Honestly Alice, you could have called and warned me that your Mum was, you know, going to be dropping you off so I could have put some pants on."

She raised an eyebrow and grinned, "So you were planning on answering the door without pants just for me?"

"Oh haha, you know what I mean, she already thinks I'm weird enough as it is."

I could tell by the way she talked to me, like I was already trying to corrupt her daughter with my half-nakedness and unusual sense of humour.

"I'd consider you more, hmmm, quirky. And it's rather endearing."

"Hmmm," I tilted my head to the side and looked up at the ceiling, "that's what my mum says," I turned back to Alice, "Not the' it's endearing' thing, just that I'm 'quirky'."

I sat down at the table with my own mug of coffee, "So about the plans for tonight, I ran them past Jasper and Angela and they thought it was great, just a casual hang out with pizza and drinks, but they have complete veto power over the guest list." I rolled my eyes dramatically.

Alice shifted on her seat and grasped the mug with both hands, "Whose coming tonight?"

I started counting off on my fingers.

"Well You and I,"

She nodded, "Well that's a given."

"And Jasper, Angela, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett, Mike, Eric and maybe a couple of other people Jasper and Angela invited," I shrugged, "Could be fun, meeting new people and stuff."

Alice took a sip of her coffee then asked, "What time are people arriving?"

"Well Jasper and Angela will be here whenever they get off their asses, and then the rest from five onward I guess."

Alice's eye sparkled with excitement, "That's perfect. It gives us enough time."

"Enough time for what?" I asked, genuinely curious yet slightly nervous by her sudden burst of excitement. She rubbed her hands together.

"For a makeover."

"Alice," I called from inside the bathroom, "Alice, I look ridiculous."

"Don't be such a baby and come out and show me." Her voice was slightly muffled from behind the door.

"Nope." I crossed my arms, trying not to stomp my foot like a little kid who's refusing to listen to their mother. I heard an exaggerate sigh from behind the door.

"Come on Bella, I promise you won't look ridiculous."

I snorted, "One you can't promise that. And two, there's a valid reason why I don't wear dresses."

I pulled at the little blue dress she'd all but forced on me, staring into the mirror. Gah, I looked so...girly. Yeah I know I'm a girl, but I was a 'Jeans and t-shirts' kind of girl, and that's how I roll. Or perhaps that's how I 'rolled', past tense is such a tragic thing.

"I promise you, if it doesn't look totally amazingly great on you, you can take it off and wear whatever you want. Ok?"

I huffed loudly, trying to get my point across that I was not happy. But I'm pretty sure she caught on ten minutes ago, when I'd barricaded myself in here. But I guess if Alice thought the dress looked good on me it must actually look good on me, that girl knew her way around clothing. So I gave in.

"Ok, fine. I'm coming out, but I swear if I don't look good-"

"You can take it off, yeah yeah I got it. Now open the door Woman."

"Why does everyone keep calling me woman?" I grumbled to myself, before opening the door and stomping out.

Alice, who was leaning casually against the wall, straightened up and inspected me.

"Hmmm," she pursed her lips, and tapped her chin thoughtfully, her 'hmmming' stopped when she looked down at my feet, "It looks great on you, even with your personal touch. Nice chuck Taylors by the way."

I rubbed my arm, "Hey just because you're dressing me up doesn't mean I can't still have...my own essence."

Alice approached me slowly, "Hmmm, I don't get why you don't wear dresses; you've got the figure for it." She reached out and slowly pulled the strap of the dress, which had fallen down my arm, back in place on my shoulder. My throat suddenly felt very dry.

"Doesn't- doesn't feel right. Too, too much freedom down there. You know, the breeze and all."

It was silent for a couple of seconds, with just the two of us standing there, before Alice stepped back and chuckled, "Yeah and I guess forks doesn't really have the 'dress wearing' kind of weather. But you still look great in it."

"Thanks. And yeah, I think I'll wear it tonight." I managed to say, even though there was barely any saliva in my mouth. She gave me another once over, biting her lip lightly, before grinning mischievously and dragging me by the arm back into the bathroom.

"Ok Bel-la, let's do your hair. I brought my hair straightener, and I'm dying to try it out on your hair."

We were downstairs in the living room flipping through my CD collection, when the doorbell rang, signalling the arrival of Jasper and Angela.

When I answered the door, the looks on my two best friend's faces were comical.

"Bella...are you wearing a _dress?_" Angela asked me incredulously. Jasper just stood in the doorway with his jaw hanging open. Alice came bounding up behind me.

"She sure is, and doesn't she look adorable." Alice's appearance seemed to snap the both of them out of there 'oh-my-god-Bella's-wearing-something-girly' stupor.

"Uh yeah, cute as a bug." Jasper finally spoke up.

Alice turned skipped through the house and back into the living room, so we all followed her, Jasper and Angela still staring at my dress like a blind man getting his sight back and then seeing the star wars trilogy for the first time.

"So, Alice...you must be some miracle worker if you got this one to put on a dress." Jasper sat down on the couch and put his arm around me, smiling his charming smile and looking at Alice like she'd saved his only son from a burning house. Alice shrugged, smirking.

"I do what I do, and uh yeah it took a freaking miracle and some bargaining to get her in that damn thing. Almost not worth it, almost."

Her little smile made my heart melt. I saw out of the corner of my eyes Angela rolling her own, "So, Alice we were discussing something the other day, and I just thought I'd get it all cleared up and ask you myself." Angela shifted on the extra sofa that I'd pulled out of storage and quickly glanced at me before continuing, "When you left last year, where'd you go?"

Alice's smile faltered slightly and she glanced at me, before she cleared her throat, "I was in New Jersey, Parents sent me to boarding school."

I crinkled my brow in confusion. New Jersey? Didn't she say-

"Ha," Angela turned to me and pointed at me accusingly, "See Bella you were wrong too, she might not have been in California or Utah, but she wasn't in Vermont either."

Alice looked like a deer in headlights. Her eyes were comically wide and her mouth was open slightly. I went to say the first thing in my head, anything to break the silence, when the doorbell rang again. Jasper and Angela went and answered it, leaving me and Alice alone.

She still had that look on her face, and I was starting to get a little worried. Why had she said New Jersey when she'd told me Vermont before?

"Alice...you ok?" I asked hesitantly, and she opened her mouth to say something before Jasper and Angela returned followed by Mike, Eric and Jessica. What the hell was she doing here?

"Jess, what- what are you...Michael, mind if I have a word with you?"

Mike cringed at the use of his full name, and most likely at the fact I was about to smack him silly.

"Yeah," he turned to Alice, and a look of confusion passed over his face, "hey, aren't you the Brandon chick? Yeah um, Alice right?"

Alice smiled weakly at him, nodding.

"Pleasantries later, talk now Michael." I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dragged him into the kitchen. I stood in front him, arms crossed and scowling.

"What is Jessica Stanley doing here?"

He held up his hands in front of himself, like he was worried I was about to punch him, which I was strongly considering, "We were hanging out and, and I didn't have the heart to just leave her and come here. Anyway, you should be nicer to me." He grinned pulling his backpack off his shoulder and holding it out in front of himself.

"And why should I be? Why shouldn't I beat you up for bringing the gossip queen over to my house without my permission?"

He unzipped his bag, "'Cause I got beer."

After everyone rocked up, we ordered pizza and gathered all of the chip packets I could find in the cupboards, we all hung out in the living room. Even though it wasn't the nicest surprise that Jessica was here, it was still a good time. I met some of Jasper's friends and introduced Alice to my own. All in all it was a pretty good 'party'.

And of course all good things must come to an end.

I was sitting on the couch next to Alice, who was acting her usual bubbly self again, and was talking to Jasper's friend David something from the swim-team, when the doorbell once again rang. Knowing it was the pizza guy; I jumped up and pulled Alice along behind me to the door. We paid for the pizzas and carried them into the kitchen. Mike, some girl Molly and of course Jessica were in there and they were obviously tipsy from the beer Mike had brought.

"Honestly I thought that Alice girl was, like dead, didn't she like slit her wrists or something? _I heard_ she had a complete melt down and was sent off to the- Oh Bella," Jessica finally realized I was there, and when she saw Alice frozen in the kitchen doorway she tilted her head to the side and then asked, "So, is it true? Did your parents send you off to the loony bin?"

Alice's face crumpled, and she dumped the pizzas on the table and ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

I had never felt so _furious_ in my entire life; Jessica had crossed a line.

I slammed the pizza boxes that I was carrying on the table, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!" I roared, "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT HER YOU IGNORANT BITCH!" She was staring at me in horror, and I was glad she looked like that. I turned to Mike, "Get her the fuck out of my house this instance, or I swear to god Michael, I will end you and that bitch," I turned to Molly or whatever the hell her name was, "You too, now GO!"

I ran up the stairs, not even waiting to see if they'd actually left, in search of Alice. She had looked so upset, nope that wasn't a strong enough word to describe how broken she looked. I walked along the upstairs hallway, and heard a sob coming from inside my room. I opened the door slowly, but raced in when I saw Alice sitting on my bed, her face in her hands and her body shaking as she sobbed. She looked up as I walked over and crouched down in front of her. "Alice, oh Alice it's ok." She looked up at me, her eyes were red and tears coated her cheeks. I absolutely hated to see her this way. I just wanted to make it all better, to take her hurt and pain away. To hold her, and never let go.

"It's- it's ok if-if you don't want to be- if you don't want me around anymore. I understand."

I placed my hands on her knees, and I shook my head, "You're not going anywhere, I'm so sorry about that Alice. Jessica, she was so far out of line, you're my guest and she should not have treated you like that. I sent her home, you are not going anywhere, you hear me?"

She sniffled, rubbing her eyes with a fist. "Really? You don't- you don't mind that I'm, crazy? That I spent a-a-a year in a-a-a – that I'm insane."

"Nope." I smiled, wiping away a tear on her beautiful face.

"You still like me?" She asked in a small voice. I tilted my head to the side, looking her in the eyes.

"Yes, I still like you. I really really like you."

I wiped away another tear, then softly caressed the side of her face. She blinked slowly a couple of times, "You do?" she asked incredulously.

I nodded, "Yes. I really do."

She shook her head, "You shouldn't."

"And why shouldn't I?" I asked, still caressing her cheek.

"I'm not- I'm not sane."

"Neither am I."

And that's when I leant in and kissed her.


	7. Chapter 6

Caffeine Fix -Chapter 6

Hey guys, i know it's been a while since i last updated, but i hope this makes up for the wait- i will try and post as often as possible from now on- cheers x

Alice's p.o.v

Mornings were always my favourite time of day. It was something to do with a fresh start, and all the possibilities that came with a new day. I'd gotten used to a certain routine since coming back to Forks. I now sat on the couch every morning, drinking my juice and watching the sunrise. I'd never thought I'd miss having the freedom to wake up when I wanted and do what I wanted in the mornings, until it was taken away from me. But now, I couldn't imagine not starting the day by watching the sun rise, bringing with it all the undiscovered possibilities.

I sat up, stretching and looking around the Cullen's lounge room. Sleep didn't come that easy to me last night. I spent most of the night replaying last night's events in my mind. Bella, wonderfully quirky beautiful Bella had kissed _me_ last night. Ok, I would have been completely obtuse if I hadn't noticed she was attracted to me- I may be fresh out of a Psychiatric facility, but I wasn't so completely void of human interaction that I couldn't notice the flirting and lingering touches. I admit, I had done my share of flirting with the girl, which had been wrong. With me being, sanely challenged I knew I shouldn't be in a relationship. Not to mention, who'd want to be with a crazy person? Apparently Bella did. She'd kissed me _after_ finding out I was in a 'loony bin'. Although she'd only heard the 'rumour' version about what happened to me. Would she want to be with me if she knew the whole truth? Does she still want to be with me after practically sprinting out of her house after we kissed?

It was a good thing that my best friend's house was also my shrink's house, 'cause I needed a good long conversation about my feelings- and Esme was the best shrink out there. Not to mention she was like another, slightly better, Mother to me.

Footsteps sounded from the stairway and were followed soon after by Emmett, wearing nothing but his blue boxers. When he noticed I was awake he gave me one of his signature dimpled smiles.

"Morning Ali-cat! Sleep well?"

I spent so much time at the Cullen residence, that they were like family to me, and Emmett being Emmett took that to mean that he didn't need to feel embarrassed about being almost completely naked around me.

"Morning Em." I shifted on the couch, before smiling weakly. He nodded, knowing about my sleeping troubles he also knew that no answer was code for 'don't wanna talk about it'.

He plopped himself down next to me and turned on the television. "Where's ? He not awake yet?"

I shrugged, pulling up the blanket and nonchalantly covering Emmett's lap with it. We were close but not close _that_ close. Plus boxers weren't always that reliable covering certain areas. I don't think Emmett and I could be friends if that ever happened, I'd be beet red every time I looked at him.

"He had a big night last night."

Emmett guffawed loudly, "That's true. Last night also proved that two people _can_ fit in Bella's hallway closet," his eyes grew bigger for a second, before he snorted, "I guess Edward and Jasper both came out of the closet last night! Get it? Cause I opened the closet door and they fell out! Out of the closet!" He through his head back and laughed, practically shaking the whole house with his thunderous guffaws. I couldn't help but giggle also, before I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the stomach.

"But it also proved that liking blondes is genetic."

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, before turning back to him grinning, "Yeah you both must get it from Esme."

Edward appeared at the bottom of the stairs, Pyjama clad and hair even more unruly than usual.

"Well his hair is pretty damn sensational. Like a meadow of silky golden straw just before a harvest."

Emmett snorted, "Gonna start writing poetry bro? Cause I should warn you, don't quit ya day job."

Esme closed the study door, before making her way over to the leather armchair opposite mine. As she sat down, I kicked of my shoes and positioned myself cross-legged on the extremely comfortable armchair. Esme crossed her leg over the other, tucked her caramel coloured hair behind her ear, before focusing all her attention on to me.

"So how have you been Alice?" I loved Esme's voice, so motherly yet professional at the same time.

I shrugged, "Alright I guess. The med's are helping, at least I think they are."

Esme nodded before writing something down on her clipboard. "Any side effects? Nausea, dizziness, headaches, tiredness, or loss of appetite?"

I fiddled with the tip of my sock, "I guess loss of appetite. But I was never a big eater to begin with."

Esme studied me quietly for a couple seconds, before scribbling once again on her clipboard.

"It's your body Alice, and if you're not comfortable with the side effects or the dose you're on now, I'll speak to Carlisle about lowering it. He might suggest seeing if the lack of appetite goes away after your body adjusts to the medication."

I didn't like the sound of lowering the dose. The medication was actually making me feel happy, and I was freaked out, that if they lowered the dose, the darkness would come back and I wouldn't be able to escape it this time. I liked being bubbly bright optimistic Alice. And if it meant loss of appetite was the side effect of it, it'd gladly give up an appetite altogether to achieve it.

I nodded, "I'll stick with it."

And once again Esme nodded and scribbled something on the clipboard. Surprising enough, I wasn't even a tad bit curious as to what she was writing; I'd prefer not to know how crazy she thought I was.

"So tell me about last night. Edward mentioned something happening last night at Bella's."

"Of course he did." That's Edward for you, frets like a little old lady.

I sighed deeply, before recounting the events of last night, in excruciating detail.

*Back to Bella's p.o.v*

To say I wasn't having a very good day, would be putting it lightly. Too say I was one wrong order away from grabbing a shotgun and going all Bruce Campbell on everyone's ass would also be underplaying the situation. Maybe.

I placed the two lattes on the table, forced myself to smile at the customers, which turned out to look more like a pained grimace, wiped my hands on my little black apron and walked back over to the counter.

Yep, today was definitely not my day. And neither had yesterday apparently. It had been over twelve hours since I last saw Alice. Seen Alice, and kissed her.I'd been on edge since last night. Had she wanted me to kiss her? Did she like me back? Why was I being so frickin' spastic about it? Oh yeah that's right, about three seconds after our kiss Edward had burst in, frantic looking and asking why the hell I let malicious people like Jessica-fucking-Stanley into my house. The rest of the night was sort of a blur- Alice left with Edward, Emmett and Rosalie, giving me a quick smile and saying something about 'calling me later' or something, giving me no clue as to what she was thinking. So I was left with an extremely giddy looking Jasper and an extremely pissed off looking Angela, too clean up the mess, while wondering about the enigma that is Alice.

"Yo Bella! You in there girl?"

A raised voice and snapping fingers brought me back to reality. I focussed all my energy on looking calm and collected, and looked up to give my best 'what can I do for you' look. Jasper just grinned back smugly from the other side of the counter. Since when did he come and hang out at his place of employment on his rostered days off? Oh that's right; it's our 'thing'. I rolled my eyes at him,

"Whatcha want?" I asked, dropping the look and replacing it with the 'I-sooooo- wish- the- girl- that- I- liked- would- call- me- and- tell- me- that- it- was- ok- for- me- to- kiss- her- and- that- she- enjoyed- my- kiss- and- thinks- I- have- great- skin' look. One of the looks I hoped to never have. Jasper's smile faded slightly and replaced it with a sympathetic look.

"aaaaah that look, that's bad."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "What look? I have many looks, each as different and as special as the last."

He rolled his eyes slightly before continuing, "The 'I-sooooo- wish- the- girl- that- I- liked- would- call- me- and- tell- me- that- it- was- ok- for- me- to- kiss- her- and- that- she- enjoyed- my- kiss- and- thinks- I- have- great- skin' look."

My brow crinkled in confusion, and I dropped my arms. "How the hell-"

"I know you Bella; I can read you like a book. And that's how I knew it was the 'skin' one instead of the 'and-i-hope-she-also-likes-calligraphy' one."

I shook my head in amazement. Maybe he knew me too well. And that in turn reminded me-

"Hey, so why were you so happy last night? Actually that's an understatement, why were you so 'giddily-ecstatically-over the moon-happy last night?"

His grin turned devilish and he quickly looked over his shoulder. I let my eyes wonder to the table next to the door and noticed a familiar looking head of unruly bronze hair. I looked back over at Jasper, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Oh no he didn't!

His smile widened and he nodded, as if to say 'OH YES I DID!'

I guess 'operation-best-friend-hook-up' worked. Alice would be over the moon. Oh great, I can't think about anything without eventually working my way back to Alice.

"So, You guys.." I pointed at Jasper then to Edward then back at Jasper, "are an..item?"

He nodded enthusiastically, and then pulled out his wallet. "Yes and No. Yes we're together, and no we're not not together." I did my sarcastic laugh and rolled my eyes, Jasper's sense humour sometimes reminded me of my grandma's.

"So I'll have two grande mocha's." He handed me the cash, and I couldn't help but smirk.

"So you've been dating for, what, twelve hours and you're already drinking the same beverages and paying for both of them. Jazz honey you're whipped!"

He narrowed his eyes at me as I handed back his change, before shrugging, "I guess _somebody_'s not getting a tip."

He turned to walk away, and I leant over the counter holding both my hands out in front of myself in an overdramatic fashion.

"But I need those tips, how am I going to feed _my children_? My children Jasper, think of the _poor little bastards!"_

I could sometimes be a tad 'overdramatic' when it comes to certain things. Some think it's a flaw, I on the other hand consider it a gift.

I'd tried, oh how I'd tried, to stay away from Jasper and Edward's table for the past hour. But all I wanted to do was sprint over there and demand to know what the hell was going on with Alice.

But I knew that Jasper wouldn't appreciate me interrupting his coffee date with Edward sexyhands.

I lasted another twenty-five minutes, until I snapped. I Marched over to the nearest table, picked up a chair, then dragged it over to their table, plonked it down between their chairs, sat on the chairs and almost yelled,

"OK, what's going on with Alice?"

Jasper looked like he was going to duct tape my mouth shut, but Edward on the other hand didn't seem all to surprised at the question.

He ran a hand through his hair, before rubbing his slightly stubbled chin.

"You'll have to ask Alice."

I huffed loudly, and crossed my arms across my chest.

"Duh Captain Obvious, that's what I wanted to do- but she been ignoring my calls and I haven't seen her all day."

Again Edward just rubbed his chin, looking quite torn between telling me and letting Alice talk to me.

"I don't know what to tell you Bella," I opened my mouth to say something along the lines of 'tell me why the frick she's ignoring me' but he quickly interrupted me before I could get a word out.

"She wouldn't want me to tell you. She'd want to do it herself. It's her life, her story and it's her choice whether she tells you or not."

On one hand, I respected Edward for not blabbing, but on the other hand I just wanted to wax his eyebrows off.

I stood up, tore my apron off and threw it on the table.

"Fine! I'm off." I turned to leave the coffee shop but paused and turned back around, "If you happen to bump into Alice, tell her I want to talk to her. And tell her it's important. She can reach me at my place."

I didn't wait to see if Edward nodded or even acknowledged what I'd said, before I turned and stormed out the door. Feeling as worried as I had at the start of my shift.

**Hope you guys liked the chapter- should i continue doing the story in other characters p.o.v? give a shout out, cheers xx**


	8. Chapter 7

"Hmmm, twenty?"

"No."

"Fifteen?"

"No."

"Fine, ten?"

"For the love of god Angela, no I will not bet on whether you can eat that whole jar of pickles."

Angela plopped down on the other side of the table, unopened pickle jar still In her hand, while I tried to finish reading the same page of the psychology textbook I'd started reading over twenty minutes ago.

"Come on Bells, you've been studying for," she paused as she glanced up at the clock above the kitchen entrance, "four and a half hours? Now that can't be right." She murmured to herself.

Nope, it was. Ever since storming out of the coffee shop over a week ago, I'd thrown myself into my studies in the desperate hope that I would be too busy to think about a certain pixie-like girl. Unfortunately, and like usual, I'd been wrong. And me being the stubborn person I am, I didn't give up, but tried harder.

"Yes, it's been over four hours, and no I'm not stopping." I picked up my highlighter, highlighted a few sentences, then flipped the page.

"Come on Bella you gotta stop sometime, you're working so hard I can actually smell your brain burning from here." She sniffed the air loudly.

I grunted a reply but continued studying. A couple minutes of silence later Angela huffed, then moved to sit on the chair next to me, getting in the way of my light and casting a shadow on the book.

"You're in my light."

"Are you mad at me Isabella?" I cringed internally at the use of my full first name, but couldn't stop myself from shrugging. Truth was I kinda was mad at her, mad about what she'd told me the other night.

Flashback

_It had been three hours since I stormed out of the coffee shop, leaving an hour before my shift had even finished. After pacing around my room for another good forty-five minutes, I was calm enough to be around another person so I called Angela._

_I plopped down on the couch next to Angela, a can of mountain dew in one hand and a can of 7up in the other._

"_7up or the dew?"_

"_I did something bad." She blurted out, and I raised my head to shoot a questioning stare at the taller girl. She had a weird expression, half way between guilt and...embarrassment. Uh oh, this can't be good._

"_What? You pregnant Ange? Cause just because Juno was a really awesome movie doesn't mean you should-"_

"_I gossiped with Jessica!" she blurted out, interrupting me in the middle of my joke._

_I sat there a little taken aback at her interruption before the realization hit me._

"_You um talked about Alice, right?" I asked, trying to use my 'inside voice'._

_She nodded, looking even guiltier and fidgeting with the end of her sleeve._

" _I was, I mean I didn't mean to Bells. I mean I went there to tell the bitch off for being such a bitch and gossiping and whatnot and one thing lead to another..." she trailed off._

_I almost laughed at the situation. To anyone else just randomly walking in, it sounded like she was confessing to cheating on me. I was so tempted on saying something like 'and did you enjoy it?' or 'is she better than me' but even I was too shocked to joke. And that was saying something._

"_She um told about her Mother, you know how Mrs. Stanley's a nurse and well she was working one night, over a year ago and she saw something and heard something and well.." she trailed off again._

_I slammed the cans down on the coffee table, "For god's sake Angela, just get to the point!"_

_She shifted uncomfortably on the couch, before nodding solemnly and continuing in a monotone._

"_She told me how Mrs. Stanley was working a nightshift at the Hospital when Alice was brought in kicking and screaming and yelling 'they're all dead, they're all dead' over and over again. She said it took three orderlies to hold her down. And then two days later Alice was brought back in, after...after she slit her wrists. And nobody saw Alice again; well not until she moved back to town. I guess there were rumours flying about but only Jess's mum knew the, well, truth I guess, and seeing how much a gossip her daughter is, I'm surprised it was able to stay a secret for this long. Jess even said that she didn't know until she'd mentioned Alice to her mum a couple of days ago in passing, and I guess genetics kicked in, and she told her."_

_I sat there utterly stunned. Alice was...eccentric, but i couldn't even fathom the possibility of her being...was insane the correct term? No, I would never ever call that beautiful, amazing girl insane! And I'd try my hardest to cause anyone who did, as much pain as I could._

_End flashback _

I closed my text book slowly, placed the highlighter next to it and turned my complete attention onto Angela. We sat in silence for who knows how long, before Angela stood up slowly and started gathering her stuff off the table.

"maybe I should-."

"I just don't know what to do." I blurted out, interrupting her and getting a sympathetic look. She sat back down, dumping he stuff back on the table.

"Well have you gone and seen here?" she asked, frowning lightly when I shook my head.

"I've tried calling her but she's either not answering my calls or she's lost her phone." A little part of me hoped it was the latter. Angela rolled her eyes, and made a scoffing noise, which pissed me off.

"What?" I growled out, crossing my arms across my chest defensively. She shook her head looking amused.

"Well Bella the first thing you should do is, I don't know, go talk to her, one on one and tell her how you feel. Honestly bells, even I'm surprised at how socially inept you are."

I watched as she whipped out her cellphone and starting dialling.

"who are-"

"Shhhh, I'm on the phone!" I rolled my eyes and started doodling on a blank piece of paper.

"Hey Jasper, it's Angela...nope...yeah she's here...no she hasn't...haha yeah that's why I'm...really? yeah sure that'd be...cool, oh sorry Jazz I gotta go Bella looks like she's about to have an aneurysm."

Well I do hate it when someone's _obviously _having a conversation about you and you have no idea what they're saying. Angela laughed at some unknown funny thing Jasper said before snatching the piece of paper and pen from me and quickly scribbling something down.

"Yeah ok I'll tell her...yeah sure cya later, bye!"

She ended the call, placed her cell on the table then slid the piece of paper towards me. I picked it up and noticed that written in Angela's impeccably neat hand written was Alice's name and then what looked to be her address underneath it. I looked up from the paper back at Angela, my mouth hanging open slightly.

"What, you want me to go over now? I asked a slight tinge of panic showing in my voice. She jumped up, pulling me up along with her by my upper arm.

"Come on, come on you can do it. Just reach inside yourself and pull out the confidence you need." She continued dragging me to the front door, only stopping so I could pick up my keys off the kitchen counter.

"But it's raining outside." I whined, digging my heels into the carpet and slowly stopping her march to the front door, she gave me a weird look,

"It's always raining, it is Forks you know."

I huffed loudly, looked towards the door then back to Angela. "Fine I'll go, but you're not coming with me are you?" she shook her head, so I sighed and stalked past her. I paused at the front door with my hand on the door handle and quickly glanced around, almost jumping when I noticed Angela standing less than a foot behind me. She was so close I could feel her breath on the back of my neck, which smelt like pickles and chocolate milk.

"You alright back there?" I asked with an eyebrow raised, which she responded with a toothy grin and a head nod towards the door. I sighed and flung open the front door, stopping with my foot raised slightly as I was about to step out onto the front steps, when I noticed a completely drenched petite girl standing in my way.

We stood there in what seemed to be a shocked staring contest until the awkward silence was broken by none other than Angela.

"Ok, I'm so staying."

* * *

"Alice? What, what are you doing here?"

She was drenched head to toe, her short hair dripping water down her face and hanging in her eyes. She was shivering slightly, her arms wrapped around herself, trying to get as much warmth as she could from her soaking wet hoody. She shrugged slightly, flicking her hair out of her eyes and looking over my shoulder at Angela, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Hello Angela."

I felt hand smack the back of my head.

"Well don't just stand there, let the poor girl in, she's soaking wet."

I stepped aside and awkwardly gestured towards the hallway, "Oh right, yeah come in Alice."

She looked hesitantly into the house, before stepping over the threshold and following Angela into the kitchen. I closed the front door, and locked it before following the others.

Alice and I sat side by side on the couch, in a slightly awkward silence. I'd gotten Alice some dry clothes to wear, and put her wet ones into the washing machine. It was rather funny when I'd passed her the sweatpants and blue flannel shirt and she'd crinkled her nose slightly in obvious distaste at the clothing. I have to admit, I sort of liked her wearing my clothes, and somehow she'd even managed to look good in them.

The silence seemed to be dragging on forever, and it was starting to get really uncomfortable, a little part of me sort of wished that Angela hadn't left, but she'd made some piss poor excuse about washing her hair, and pretty much ran out the door.

I stood up abruptly, making Alice jump slightly, and rubbed my hands together nervously,

"Hot chocolate, I could do with some, how 'bout you? Of course you do, you need something to warm you up."

I rushed out of the living room before she could voice a response. I pulled two mugs out of the cupboard and then grabbed the milk out of the fridge, and was frantically making the hot beverages when I heard quiet footsteps behind me.

"Bella?" her voice sounded lovelier each time I heard it.

"You happy with hot chocolate, or are you a tea kinda gal? Or I could make coffee, love the java-"

"Bella! Can you please turn around?" I stopped my frantic hot chocolate making, and sighed before turning around and leaning against the counter.

"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you Bella, you're probably wondering why I have."

I stuck my hands in my pocket, "Well yeah I have, is it something I did? Was it the kiss, cause I'm-"

A shocked look appeared on her face as she interrupted my apology, "No, you did nothing wrong."

I sighed in relief, relaxing slightly against the bench. She took a couple of steps towards me, so that we were less than a metre apart. The look of her face was crossed between sad and guilty.

"I did, it was me that, uh, did the wrong thing. Look I really, really like you Bella, probably more than I should to be honest."

She fiddled slightly with the hem of her shirt, avoiding eye contact for a couple of seconds, before looking back up at me, and noticing the confused look on my face.

"But I like you too, so why is it a bad thing?" I asked in a small voice.

She smiled sadly, before stepping even closer. "I can't even look after myself, let alone be in a relationship with anyone. I'm not normal, whatever that is, I've just recently been released from a psychiatric facility, and I'm drugged up to the eyeballs on god knows what. I'm not..." she trailed off, eye's filling to the brim with tears, and it made my heart hurt at how broken she looked.

I shuffled closer and held her hand in mine, trying to comfort her in any way I could. She smiled slightly as tears began to stream down her face.

"Alice, all that stuff, it doesn't bother me. It only matters if you like me, that's all I care about. And hey, who the hell wants to be normal? It's so boring! and well I wanna look after you. You know if you'd let me." I grinned hopefully.

She sniffled slightly, bringing her free hand up to wipe the tears from her cheeks before grinning widely.

"Yeah I think I might just let you, if you think you can handle me, it is rather a full time job so this is me warning you."

I tucked some stray hairs behind her ear, and stroked her cheek lightly, "consider me warned."

I pulled her closer to me, cupping her face gently with my hands i slowly leant in and kissed her.

I knew we had a lot to discuss, and a lot to work through, but right now I was happy and content standing in my kitchen kissing the pixie-like girl, and I'd deal with reality and all the problems it brought with it later, when I was done kissing Alice.

My Alice.

**Hey guys, hope you liked the chapter- i'll try and update as soon as i can. thanks for reading, you guys are awesome.**

**cheers H x**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hey guys, so i was so inspired by the wonderful reviews i received, that i was hit with a sudden blast of creativeness(p.s i am in no way a review whore, but it doesn't mean i don't enjoy them =]) and i just had to put up this chapter asap! a big thank you to everybody reading this, and i hope you enjoy this chapter and the other chapters that are yet to come. Cheers and enjoy!** x

"Pass the salt"

"Pass the salt what?

"Ummm, pass the salt now?"

Jasper gave an exasperated sigh, before passing me the saltshaker.

"Thank yoop!" I snatched it out of his hand and started seasoning my potatoes, gotta love that sodium.

I also loved dinners at Jasper's house; his Mother was an even better cook then Renee.

I turned to jasper, jiggling the shaker in front of him, a toothy grin on my face.

"Salt Jasper?"

He shook his head, raising an eyebrow at me.

"aw come on, is goooood!"

He shook his head at me again, "Nah, I'm good Bells. And it looks like you've got enough for the both of us." He stared over at my dinner, pretending to look disgusted.

"Aw come on just let me put a little," I leant over and tried to season his dinner, giggling to myself. He started laughing as he grabbed my wrist lightly and tried to stop me from over salting his meal.

"Hey- no stop- stop it, aaargh, MUMMY!"

"What-eh- you calling your mummy, you manly man, you!" after a couple more seconds of our struggle, he managed to pry the saltshaker off of me by tickling me in a sensitive spot on my side, the bastard fights dirty!

I slumped back into my chair, crossing my arms in faux anger as jasper chucked the shaker across the table to his Father, who caught it with an amused look on his face.

Now I'm 100% gay, but Jasper Whitlock senior sure is a handsome man. Like an older, more muscular version of Jasper, well Jasper Jr. And his voice sort of reminded me of Johnny Cash.

Too bad he's such a homophobe, and too bad he's completely oblivious too.

"So Bella, how are things going with my Son? You two gonna tie the knot soon?"

Yeah bad idea to take a sip of your drink when somebody ask you a question, cause that stuff came out my nose and somehow managed to choke me as well.

After I clear my throat, with the help of Jasper patting me on the back, i was able to ask,

"What?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jasper shift uncomfortably in his chair, but Mr. Whitlock just continued on, again oblivious.

"You too have been together for how many years now? And you too are how old? When I was your age I was in the Army, but if I hadn't been, I'd have popped the question to your Mother sooner." He looked over at Japer's mother with a loving look on his face, and she returned the look as he reached over and held her hand.

Yeah total aaaw moment; well at least it would've been if he'd not been trying to get his gay son and his lesbian best friend engaged.

Can I say awkward?

But of course he had no idea we weren't together, and that we were both completely 100% gay. Although even if he did, he'd just deny it.

Denial, it ain't just a river in Egypt.

"Dad, I think it's a little too early talking about marriage, we're not even eighteen yet. Plus times have changed and we both wanna go to college."

'_Yeah, and we both sleep with same sex people. Think that might somehow be a problem?' _I mentally added, playing with my fork like it was the most interesting thing I'd ever seen.

Mr. Whitlock gave Jasper a knowing smile before giving me one as well.

"Aaaah I gotcha son, ya having trouble keeping this wild one in check."

That son of a-

"Now honey, most the girls these days just want to go out and travel and soak up all the culture they can before they settle down, don'tcha dear?" Jasper's Mum smiled warmly at me, encouraging me to answer her...question?

I cleared my throat before answering, "Yeah, I uh, wanna go see Paris and Rome. And then go to College and get a degree, before i...settle down."

I glanced over at Jasper, who was moving some peas around on his plate with his knife. Most likely thinking of jamming it into his hand so he can distract us and hopefully change the subject. I admit I had the same thought thirty-five seconds ago.

Like they say, great minds think alike. So I'm pretty sure Jasper was having the same thought as I was right now, about jumping out the dining room window and running as fast as I could to the Canadian border. I'd go see a moose. Wait, this is not the time to think about how awesome moose are, it's a time for...screw it, I'm gonna sit her while Jasper's parents plan our futures together and I'm gonna think about moose.

And that helped me through the rest of a god awful Monday evening dinner.

After dinner and desert, and then helping Jasper's mother with the dishes (insert sarcastic remark) Jasper walked me out to my truck. As soon as the front door closed, he started in on the apologies.

"Serious Jazz its ok, really it's fine. It just, it makes me sad that you can't be honest with you parents." I leant up against my big red truck, a sympathetic look on my face. Jasper scratched the back of his head as he looked down at his sneakers.

"Yeah, but you know how it is. Hell our dad's pretty much have the same opinions on 'the gays'."

I couldn't quite agree with that, of course I'd be worried telling my dad about my sexuality, but he was no way as bad as Mr. Whitlock, who actually went out of his way to insult gay people. My dad just got uncomfortable with the subject; however it may have been brought up, and would most likely just change the subject.

And that's when I realized I didn't really have a solid reason not to tell Charlie. Apart from me being scared, but seriously what was the worst thing he could do? It's not like he'd hit me, he's the chief of freaking police, and I'm a girl...ok people still hit girls, but he loves me and he wouldn't do that. Jasper's dad probably would. And I felt my heart ache at the thought of Jasper not being able to be honest with his family, and me being able to.

I leant in and hugged him. After a couple moments, probably him surprised I'm actually comforting him, he hugged me back. At some point, he actually lifted me up so my toes were barely even grazing the ground. Once he set me back down, I adjusted my long sleeve shirt, so it was covering my stomach again, and quickly gave Jazz a kiss on the cheek, before hopping into my beast of a truck.

"See ya tomorrow eh? I'll pick ya up after ya swim meet or whatever you jocks call it" I asked, sticking my head out the window.

He laughed, saying a 'yeah alright', before I reversed out of the drive way and began my drive home, the same thought on my mind the whole way there,

Should I have the talk with Charlie?

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

BRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGGG!

Oh what a lovely way to wake up.

BRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG!

Is someone going to get that?

BBBRRRRRIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!

Oh yeah that's my phone, I should probably get that. God how I hated technology, almost as much as I hated people who call you when it's just barely even light outside.

I poked my head out from under my protective blanket cacoon, and after a couple of failed attempts, I managed to pick up my cell off my bedside table and answer it.

"Mhmm, whah who's, meh?" Yeah I don't function well in the mornings, especially when I first wake up. But the giggling on the other side of the line pretty much helped me wake up completely.

"_Well good morning to you too Bella."_ Ahh now Alice is the only person who can wake me up before eight and not get an earful about respecting people's rights to sleep until a reasonable time. I yawned loudly, and stretched out under my blankets, before trying to form a proper response to my girlfriend. My girlfriend, awesome!

"Hey Alice, sorry I'm just ugh not a morning person, I'm not much use until I've had my morning caffeine fix. But this sure is a nice way of waking up, whatcha up too?"

"_Nothing much, I was just thinking about you, soooo I thought I'd give you a call." _

Her response made me grin like an idiot. But why in frack was she up so early? I stretched out once again, but this time pushed the blankets down with my feet, preparing to get up.

"Naw, that's sweet. But what the heck are you doing up so early? Practicing for those early morning starts when we have to be at Forks high at an ungodly hour?" the thought of going to a public school with a whole bunch of strangers was quite daunting, but with Alice there with me it didn't seem quite as horrible.

When I heard a small sigh escape her, I got the feeling I'd said something wrong.

"_Nah, I've just had lots of problems with my sleep patterns. I'm lucky if I can get five hours sleep a night. Plus I have trouble actually staying asleep. So because of that, I'm always awake early enough to see the sunrise. It's quite beautiful really; I think you'd enjoy it."_

I snorted, "Yeah I think I'd prefer if you just took pictures, then show it to me later, preferable on a computer, with high definition. That way I can enjoy it in a good mood and with crystal clear pixels."

"_Oh Bella, you're such a slave to technology."_

"It's not called slave when you give yourself over willingly." I countered, as I finally dragged myself out of the comfort of my wonderful bed, and made my way over to the dresser, tugging slightly at the back of my boxers, trying to unwedge it as affectively as I could from my butt.

I waited for a witty remark, but none came. Instead I could just barely make out hushed whispering on the other side of the line. After a couple more moments of whispering, Alice voice returned.

"_Sorry about that Bella, um wait what were you saying?"_

I propped the cell against my ear with my shoulder as I held the pair of jeans out in front of myself, trying to decide if I could get another day's use out of them.

"Uh something very witty and intellectually stimulating. Oh by the way, what are you doing this afternoon?" I asked, as I searched through my draws for my favourite cardigan.

"_Hmmm nothing as far as I know, why? Do you have something much better planned?" _she asked, sounding excited.

I grinned mischievously, "Oh you could say that, meet me outside my place at three-fifteen and wear something comfortable."

XxxxxxxxxxxX

"Ok, so this is uh different." Alice shifted slightly closer to me as we made our way past another bunch of muscular guys in Speedos. I grinned as I stealthily slid my hand into Alice's,

"Well this isn't it exactly, we're just stopping by to pick up- Hey Jasper!" I called out when I noticed a head of blond hair emerge from the pool, and whistled loudly as I got a full look of him in his swim team Speedo's. Alice giggled beside me, before whistling herself.

Jasper blushed a deep shade of red, before continuing on towards us, a strut appearing in his stride. Yeah he knew he had a killer body.

"Ladies," He greeted us, "glad you could make it, and yes your outfits will do quite nicely, and thank god you actually listened to me for once Bella and wore comfortable shoes." He inspected our attire of sweatpants and loose fitting t-shirts; with of course the comfortable sneakers I'd all but forced Alice to wear as well. She had no idea how much she was going to need them.

Alice just looked even more confused, and she turned to shoot a questioning stare at me.

"Ok why are do we need comfortable clothes? Why are we wearing loose clothing? And why the hell are we at the high school swimming pool, when it looks like some sort of swim meet is taking place?"

Jasper and I exchanged a mischievous look, before I turned back to Alice to fill her in a bit on the proceedings.

"Don't worry, it has nothing to do with the swim meet, we're just picking up a few people."

I nodded my head in the direction of the pool, Alice looked over as well and broke out into a wide grin when she noticed Emmet and Edward standing near the stands by Rosalie, Eric and Mike who, apart from Rosalie, were all wearing bathers, and fidgeting excitedly like little five year olds.

Jasper clapped his hands together loudly, "Ok after we change out of out swimming costumes, next stop Whitlock residence!"

"Ok, I admit Swatlock ball is pretty damn fun!"

"Damn straight missy!" I exclaimed, as I plopped down next to a sweaty and rather dirt covered Alice, picking up a bottle of water and taking a huge gulp.

We'd arrived at Jasper's house two hours earlier, gone through the house and into the backyard (if you could call it that, it was more of a slightly smaller version of a patchy football field) and when Alice noticed a pile of footballs and white lines marking each end of the field, and it had clicked in her head that we were going to be playing sports, she hadn't been all that thrilled.

But after explaining, and experiencing the wonder that is Swatlock ball, she'd come around. Not to mention pretty much kick everyone's butt at it.

The rules of Swatlock ball, invented by none other than myself and mister Jasper Jr, which we'd so cleverly named by combining our last names, are the following:

There are two people playing at a time, one is the runner, who has the football and has to run from one white line all the way to the other line on the other side of the field as fast as possible, and the second player has to catch the 'runner' and tackle them to the ground and get them on their back for three seconds, before grabbing the ball and running it across the line themself. Which earns you three points.

Alice was a freaking speed demon. And had only been caught and tackled three times, twice by Rosalie and once by yours truly. And let's just say I'd almost been too distracted by the tackling Alice part, that I'd almost forgot to grab the ball and run it past the line myself. But the all too tempting call of competition had forced me to grab that sucker and get those points. What can I say, for a klutz I'm pretty competitive.

The highlights of the game would have to be Emmett tackling Mike, Edward tackling Mike and Rosalie tackling Mike. Poor Mike, he got the shit tackled outta him. Although I think it was sort of retribution for his part in the whole 'Alice's humiliation at my party' debacle, so I didn't feel too bad about him getting his ass handed to him.

I also bared witness to the Cullen brother's 'legendary' competitiveness. He may be gay, he may be stylish, but Edward could sure hold his own, especially when Emmett tackled him. Brotherly love sure is swell!

Rosalie made her way over towards us, and plopped herself down on the bench on my other side. "You girls getting sick of me whooping your butts yet?" She asked with a cheeky grin, before snatching the water bottle out of my hand.

Rosalie, what can I say about her? Other than- She. Is. Awesome! At first she sort of gave this cold bitchy vibe which seemed to uh freak me out a tad, but after bonding over the shared joys of Swatlock ball I'd gotten the chance to see the other side of miss Hale; the intelligent, hilarious, alluring and not to mention competitive, side. I definitely liked her. Of course not in _that_ way, but I could see us becoming great friends.

"Hey! You know in some civilized cultures it's considered rude taking people's drinks without asking."

She finished taking the long gulp, wiped her mouth with the back of her arm and wittily responded,

"Well thank god we're not civilized!"

Ooooh snap, ok you got me there you blond haired quick-wit ninja!

I turned to Alice, to get her to back me up on proper manners, but was pretty much silenced when she attacked my lips with her own.

And I didn't mind that at all. I responded by eagerly kissing her back, sighing contently as her tongue brushed lightly across my lower lip signalling me to open my mouth slightly wider to deepen the kiss.

Eventually when we both, unfortunately, needed oxygen our lips broke contact, and she settled for leaning her forehead against mine.

"You have no idea how much this means to me, being able to interact with everyone and to just muck around. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun!"

I smiled warmly back at her, stroking her cheek.

"It was my pleasure, not to mention Jasper also came up with the..."

I trailed when I noticed a slightly horrified looking Jasper standing s couple of feet away from us. And just for the slightest of moments I was genuinely confused why Jasper would be staring at Alice and I like that. Did he hate public displays of affection that much?

And then, that's when I realized he wasn't looking at us, but rather just passed us. And I very slowly turned my head, to look in the same direction as Jasper was, and sure enough standing frozen in place with a cross between shocked and some other expression that was obviously not good, holding a tray of sandwiches, cups and a jug of lemonade, stood Mrs. Whitlock.

Oh fudge.


	10. Chapter 9

**Hey guys, it's been a while but i hope this makes up for it- enjoy xx**

I've heard that when we suffer great loss or are in the midst of a catastrophic moment, we go through five certain steps. These are known as the five stages of grief.

Denial, because what is happening seems so unbelievable we are not able to comprehend it.

Anger, we become so mad that this is happening to us, we lash out.

Bargaining, we would give anything for this to not be happening.

Depression, the realization kicks in and the loss seems so great; we believe that we would never be able to get passed it.

And finally acceptance, we don't like it, but its most important part of the grieving process.

And although this may seem like an over dramatization of the situation, these five steps seemed to suit what was happening quite well. Because Mrs. Whitlock was acting on the first step of the process.

Denial.

After what seemed like the longest, and most painful awkward silence in history, Jasper looking horrified as he stared at his mother, his face as white as his polo shirt- Emmett standing shirtless holding Mike in a headlock watching the scene with a confused look on his face- Eric hands in his hoody quietly observing, with the same confused look as Emmett- Edward standing a few feet behind Jasper, concern etched into his beautiful face, as he watched Jasper's reaction of sheer horror- Rosalie who seemed to be watching my reaction out of the corner of her eyes, holding the water bottle so it was barely touching her bottom lip- Alice, her body turned in my direction with her hand resting just above my knee, her eyes darting back and forth between, myself, Jasper and Mrs. Whitlock, biting the inside of her cheek.- And then of course me, sitting with my hand raised slightly in the air, mouth slightly agape and watching Mrs. Whitlock with a 'deer caught in the headlights' expression; the moment would have been comical if not for the fact it was so incredibly serious,

Mrs. Whitlock blinked slowly a few times, before smiling.

"Hello dears, I thought after the work out you all just did you could all do with some refreshments and some sandwiches."

She placed the food and jug of lemonade on the picnic table and busied herself with pouring drinks and putting sandwiches on plates, while the rest of us stayed exactly where we were, watching her. Was she seriously pretending she didn't see anything?

Apparently so.

She straightened up tucking a long strand of blonde hair behind her ear, placing the now empty tray under her arm, glanced around making a tutting noise when she saw Emmett holding Mike in a headlock, before giving us all a wide smile and bustling back into the house.

It was silent for a few moments longer, before Jasper shook his head and bounded past the bench heading for the house.

"Jasper I'm-" I started to apologize before he silenced me with a palm gesture, not even bothering to look at me, and just continued his fast walk into the house.

We all gathered around the picnic table, grabbing sandwiches and cups of lemonade, none of us really talking, apart from a 'pass the jug' or 'thanks' here and there. About seven or eight minutes later Jasper reappeared. He walked up and stopped three feet away from where I was sitting.

"Bella, I need to talk to you." His face was blank, but by the way his voice shook slightly at the end, I knew it was not good. I nodded placing my sandwich on my plate, swung my legs over the side of the bench and followed Jasper as he led me inside the house and up the stairs and then into his room. I tentatively stepped inside standing awkwardly in the middle of his room, as he stayed standing in the doorway. After a couple of seconds, even though it felt like hours, he stepped inside the room and slammed the door shut behind him. I jumped slightly at the loud noise it made.

"What the hell man, don't be so-"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the growl of a tone, and the anger in his voice made me deflate slightly. He's never spoken that way to me before.

He stood a good metre away from me, fists gripped tightly by his sides, his figure shaking slightly.

"Are you seriously that stupid, or was this some sort of plan?"

Alright now _that _pissed me off. I felt my whole body stiffen with anger.

"Excuse me?" I asked through a clenched jaw.

"Is this some sort of convoluted plan to 'come out' to my parents and just drag me along with you? Are you seriously that selfish?" during that he'd stepped a good couple of feet closer to me and I could practically see the anger in his eyes.

I felt my jaw drop as I finally understood what he was getting at.

"Jasper, I would never, I didn't mean to, _she _kissed _me_!" I exclaimed, my tone not quite getting how appalled I was that he was accusing me of that.

"You should have made sure to tell her that she can't act that way around here, she can't act so-"

"Gay?" I cut in, crossing my arms over my chest.

His face changed from the angry expression he'd just had to a pained one, his gaze softened too.

"Bells..you know how my parents are, that out there," he pointed to his bedroom door, "ma acting like she didn't see anything, that's the best possible scenario we'll ever get, just plain old denial. If that'd been dad...well I'm just glad it wasn't."

And once again we stood there silently, staring at each other. Jasper's expression softened even more, so that there was no trace of anger left, and he was now watching me with a forlorn expression.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean, it's just, living with _him_ and his hate for anything and everything he doesn't understand is just so frustrating and honestly it's tiring. I'm tired of his façade of heterosexuality, of pretending that it doesn't kill me every time he goes on who of his homophobic rants and just of him. I'm just so tired Bella."

I could feel my eyes well up and my chest actually started to hurt. He didn't deserve this. He deserved to be loved by his parents for just being him. Realizing love wasn't always unconditional wasn't something I wanted to witness personally.

I approached Jasper slowly, before wrapping my arms around him and giving him a tight hug, trying to get across by my actions how much I loved him. His chest started shaking as he sobbed, his face buried into the space between my shoulder and my neck, and I could feel the hot tears leaking onto my neck, and soaking the collar or my shirt.

After he was done with his mini breakdown, he wiped the rest of the tears off his face, gave me one of his spare 'forks high' football jersey to wear, and then we left his room and ventured outside to join the others.

As we approached the table we noticed how tense and awkward the atmosphere felt. They were all eating their sandwiches and not really talking all that much, apart from Eric and Mike going on about some xbox game. I sat back down next to Alice, who was acting rather jittery.

"Is everything ok? I'm really sorry that happened Bella, I didn't mean to cause this." She whispered

I nodded before whispering back, "Yeah its ok, don't worry." I tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it felt a bit too forced. Jasper whose eyes were noticeably red sat across from us picking at his sandwich, and when Edward tried to put his arm around him reassuringly, Jasper flinched and not so subtly moved away from him, and looked anywhere but at Edward, and his hurt expression.

I pulled up outside Alice's house, turned off the ignition, but stayed sitting in the truck. I looked passed Alice and out the passenger side window.

"You know I've never been to your house before." My voice sounded so loud compared to the silence in the truck. Alice followed my gaze out the window, and we both sat there looking at the house.

"I like your place better." She turned back to look at me, a sad smile on her face.

"It just feels nicer, the energy of the place I mean."

I reached over and held her hand in mine, "It's probably something to do with me living in it. I'm just a big ball of positive energy."

She grinned, but didn't say anything in return. So again we sat there in silence, her playing with my hand, caressing my fingers and gently turning my hand over in her own. I watched her, enjoying her soft touch and the curious expressing she was wearing, it reminded me of a kitten watching a butterfly. At this moment I was so glad I'd stopped biting my nails. When she looked up from my hands, tucking a stray bit of hair behind her ear, she looked so calm and relaxed.

"I suppose I should be heading in." I nodded before leaning in a capturing her lips with mine before she hopped out of my truck and headed up the path towards her house. I watched until she opened the door and stepped inside, giving me a small wave before she closed it.

I missed her already.

I wrapped a towel around myself, grabbing an extra one for my hair before exiting the steamy bathroom. It was a short distance from the bathroom to my room, but I shivered as the water trickled from my soaking hair down the back of my neck and my back. The only thing I didn't like about Forks' cold weather was the early mornings getting changed and the walks from the bathroom to my bedroom in my towel. Yeah I'm not that fussy if you think about it. After I changed into my favourite pair of sweatpants and an overly large t-shirt, I wandered down stairs and plopped myself on the couch, checking to see if there was anything decent on TV. Half way through an episode of NCIS I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, i answered the call with a 'hellooooo kind gentleman.' But apparently Jazz wasn't in a mood to put up with my antics,

'_Hey Bella, I can't talk for very long I just, can you tell Jessica that I need someone to fill in for me tomorrow? Tell her I'll pick up a double shift next week to make up for it_.'

I shifted on the couch, pulling the cushion out from under me and resituating myself into a comfier position.

'Yeah sure, why what's up?' jasper never missed a shift unless he was, a) sick or b) his car broke down. He cleared his throat before answering,

'_Nothing, listen thanks for this I'll see ya later_.' And he hung up before I could say another word.

I stared down at the phone, muttering a not so polite word and snapping it shut before throwing it onto the couch cushion next to me.

"Language!" Renee warned jokingly as she passed the living room. I dragged myself of the couch and into the kitchen, huffing loudly before slumping down at the kitchen table.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" she asked walking over to me, brushing my fringe out of my face and feeling my forehead. I swatted her hand away half heartedly,

"Sheesh ma I'm not sick, I'm just..." I trailed off uncertainly. She gave me a curious look, before asking, "Girl trouble?"

I shrugged, biting my thumb nail and making a non committal noise. She rolled her eyes,

"Have I ever mentioned how great you are at communicating? You take after your father so much." I muttered a 'thank god' under my breath, causing her to once again roll her eyes.

She sat down on the chair next to mine, and focussed all her attention on me.

"So it is girl problems, right?" man was it weird talking about this, sure she knew I was gay, but actually talking to her about it just felt..plain weird. I grimaced slightly before answering,

"Yes and no." But seeing her eye brow raise, I sighed and in great detail described today's events.

"So, when am I going to meet this Alice?" I stared at her for a couple of seconds,

"Ok so I tell you this whole story that has a gazillion things so much more important and you're more worried about meeting my girlfriend?" she shrugged, still smiling widely.

"Sounds like you really like her." Yep Renee had a one track mind.

"Yes, but mum focus, Jazz's parents problem first, meeting Alice discussion next."

She once again rolled her eyes,

"Yeah yeah, right Jazz...hmm well honey I don't know what to say, but maybe it wasn't the best idea to pretend you've been a couple for this long- and before you start protesting that he didn't want Jasper sr and Tanya to know about his sexuality, it didn't mean you had to pretend to be 'together' together. It'd been a less shock to the system when she eventually found out he was gay, if she wasn't positive that he was straight."

She continued on when she noticed the confused look on my face,

"By you two pretending to be in an intimate relationship, she would assume that her son was straight. Seeing as you're a girl." Ok she might have a one track mind, but every once in a while she had great insight. I sighed, leaning my elbows on the table and resting my chin on my palms. She rubbed my back soothingly,

"Listen sweetie, I've know Tanya since I was your age, and she's always been..." she paused, trying to find the right word, before continuing, "old fashioned. Girl meets boy, they date, they get married, they pop out a few kids, raise them to believe the same ideas they were raised to believe and grow old. And Jasper is pretty much the exact same way, but more extreme and definitely more religious. So how do you expect her to react when she sees the girl who is suppose to be doing all the things she been raised to believe is the right choice with her son, kissing another girl? Denial is a power coping mechanism."

"So you think they'll hate him, hate me?" I couldn't stop my voice from quivering at the end. She sighed deeply and pulled me into her arms, hugging me the way she used to when I was a kid and I'd just grazed my knee or had a nightmare.

"They don't hate you, they just don't understand. Basically they're afraid, afraid of this whole other part of the world they're not used to, and don't fully comprehend. But deep down, underneath all of it, they love you. They're just..set in their ways."

She kissed me on the top of my head, and quickly followed with a "and tell jazz that he can move in if they take his coming out as severely as I expect they will."

Oh how complicated things had gotten. I wish I could go back to the days where this hug would have fixed everything and made it all better. But unfortunately it hadn't.

"So what, he's like, not coming in at all? And you're, like, just telling me this now?"

Man did Jessica look like her mother when she put her hands on her hips and glared at me like that. But I didn't make a single sarcastic comment about it, because I guess she had a good enough reason to be slightly annoyed, seeing as I was suppose to call in for Jazz and warn them so they could find someone to cover his shift. My bad.

"That's why I'm here." I walked around the front counter and grabbed my apron from underneath the bench, put it on and then put my hair up into a messy ponytail. Jessica watched me with a suspicious look on her face.

"So you're coming in on your rostered day off to take over his shift? Why?"

Cause unlike you I do nice things. I smiled sweetly before replying,

"Because I just love spending time with you Jess, especially when we serve coffee."

She narrowed her eyes slightly before sighing and stalking off into the supply room, muttering a 'this job is so not worth it'. Wow, ok excuse me for being such an inconvenience, sorry I just offered to cover for someone on my day off, bitch please.

About half way through my shift, I looked up from making a latte and saw Charlie, in his uniform, enter the shop.

"Dad? Since when did you start blowing off your responsibilities to come drink coffee?"

He shuffled over to the counter, a weird look on his face.

"Nah you know I don't like this weird flavoured stuff you serve; besides we have a working percolator down at the station. I, uh, thought you'd be at home."

"Yeah," I pulled out a couple of cups and wrote down the customers names on each of them, "I wasn't suppose to work today but I owed jazz a favour. So what's up?" I stopped what I was doing and looked up at him. He looked really uncomfortable, like all he wanted to do was run out of the shop and keep on running until he reached Canada. Huh, that's where I must get it from.

"Uh, I just thought, you were gonna be...what time does your shift end?"

"What time does yours?" one of the new employees, Ben-something cleared his throat behind me and gestured to the cups with a smile. I handed him the paper cups and said a quiet 'thank you' before turning back to Charlie. He ruffled his moustache before answering,

"Five-thirty but I'm on call so I might have to head back in at some point. I thought we needed a little chat." I nodded, tilting my head to the side as I tried to figure out why he was so damn uncomfortable. Yeah sure he was a man of few words and he kinda got awkward talking about parent type things, leaving it to Renee who was pretty much a teen at heart, and made everything less weird as possible, but still the he looked even more uncomfortable than usual.

"Well I finish at three so I'll pop down to the station." He shook his head, before scratching the back of his neck,

"Uh no don't come down, we'll talk about it when we're both a home. Well I better be off, there's chief of police work to be done and if I don't do it no one will. See ya bud."

"Bye,"

I stood at the counter staring out the front doors watching as he hopped into the police cruiser and drove off. I was pretty much in my own world so when a throat cleared loudly behind me I must have jumped three feet in the air. Again Jessica stood behind me, glaring and with her hands on her hips.

"Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna serve someone coffee? Honestly it would've been more productive being an employee short than have you getting in everyone's way."

I stared back at her, brow furrowed and lips pursed, before breaking out into a wide grin and wiggling my finger at her,

"If only you'd been this charming before I met Alice."

I closed the front door behind me and chucked my keys on the table in the hallway,

"Hey mum!" I called out as I headed straight for the fridge to do one of my favourite past times, drinking milk from straight from the carton. Yeah they seemed to frown on that at work.

I wiped my milk moustache on the back of my hand, and called out louder,

"Hey Renee, you home?" I got my answer when muffled footsteps sounded in the general direction of the stairs.

"Oh hi sweetie, how was work?"

I shrugged, putting the carton back into the fridge and poking around to see what else I could drink from the bottle.

"Alright I guess, Jessica's sill amazing us with her great management skills, I only spilled coffee on myself once, and there's a new guy Ben something-a-rather, he seemed nice, oh," I straightened up holding a can of dr. Pepper, and closing the fridge, "Dad stopped by today, acted even more 'Charlie like' than usual. Said something about chatting and it was kinda weird- what, what is it? Oh god what did you do?"

She had that look on her face that just screamed 'ooops', as she sat at the kitchen table sorting out the ironing. She looked up from folding one of Charlie's work shirts,

"I might've told him you were going through something difficult and important and that you two should talk about it, and that she should be supportive of any decision you make."

I continued to stare at her, my face obviously showing my shock, holding onto my soda can.

"What the hell? Why'd you- just why?"

She stopped folding the ironing and looked me dead on, with a sympathetic expression.

"Because it's about time he knew. Honey I know him, he loves you and it won't matter to him, just as long as you're safe and happy. So when he gets home I'm going to leave you two to talk."

I slumped down onto the chair opposite her's and placed the soda can on the table.

"It's just going to be awkward and just plain uncomfortable, you know how he is, and you know how Mr. Whitlock is too-"

"You're father is much more understanding, and honestly not as homophobic. Just trust me sweetie, I've been married to your father long enough to know this is going to be fine." She smiled reassuringly at me, and I gave a weak one in return. The noise of the cruiser pulling up into the driveway made the whole thing so much realer. Was I really just about to come out to my Father? How would he react? Would he be fine with it? Would he be upset?

Here we go.

* * *

**ok guys i'm gonna try to get the next chapter up in under half the time it took me to get this one up. a big thanks to everyone who have read my story so far, you guys are awesome!**

**H x  
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